20 y/o woman, waiting for biopsy results and scared to death

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ari0505
ari0505 Member Posts: 8
edited August 2018 in Waiting for Test Results

Like the title says I'm only 20, with no family history of cancers of any kind, don't smoke or drink, and live on a mostly organic diet. I found a small, rubbery oval shaped lump, about the size of a kidney bean, at the age of 16 and immediately saw a doctor, who told me that it's definitely a cyst or a fibroadenoma because of my age and I should only come back if it grows. About 6 months later, it grew to the size of a large grape so I went back to my doctor, and he referred me for an ultrasound---the radiologist said the same thing, "it is nothing to worry about". It has been shrinking and growing according to where I am in my menstrual cycle ever since I found it, so I was able to just forget about it and live my life. About a month ago, I saw my gyno and she began to feel my breasts. She asked about the lump, I told her the same thing that the doctor from 4 yrs ago said, and she said I should have gotten a biopsy done right then and there so she referred me for one. She said it was 99.9% likely to be a fibroadenoma because of my age and the characteristics of the lump but we still need to do the biopsy to be sure. It was an entire month before I was able to get the biopsy done yesterday. I saw 2 radiologists and a breast surgeon who all told me it was most likely a fibroadenoma but I have to wait 5-7 days for the results to come back and that's stressing me out even more. My mind is jumping to the worst possible conclusion---what if it really was something bad (I'm avoiding the C-word like the plague right now so bear with me) all these years and I just ignored it all because of a negligent doctor? I have my whole life ahead of me; I'm engaged, about to launch my career, and I want to start a family some day. And I feel like every time I post something in reddit, etc. all I get is responses from people who thought they had benign conditions, that turned out to be malignant. One was as young as 23! I guess I just needed to vent, and some reassurance would be well appreciated.

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Comments

  • MelissaDallas
    MelissaDallas Member Posts: 7,268
    edited July 2018

    Why is your mind jumping to worst case scenarios? Every doctor has (correctly) told you that this is almost certainly a benign lump common in teens & young women and they are just confirming it. Breast cancer in someone your age is exceptionally rare, and pretty much unheard of in a sixteen year old when you first noticed the lump

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  • ari0505
    ari0505 Member Posts: 8
    edited July 2018

    I suffer from severe anxiety due to unrelated health problems. I don't know, I guess I just scared myself by constantly researching my condition and the wait is only making me twice as anxious

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  • MelissaDallas
    MelissaDallas Member Posts: 7,268
    edited July 2018

    Stop researching if whatever research you are doing leads you to in any way believe you have cancer. You have all but certainly been told that you do not have cancer, so your research methods are faulty.

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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited July 2018

    Hi Ari0505-

    I agree with Melissa- I know it's so hard to not google, I'm horrible at it! One thing I'll say is I really don't think the Dr's would be telling you anything if they had any thought it could be the C word. Believe me, when I went in for a follow up ultrasound and then biopsy- everyone in the room was quiet. There was no "oh it's probably only". That silence was when I knew something was wrong. All of your Dr's are saying the same thing...so look forward to getting the results to ease your mind. Wishing you the best...

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  • mustlovepoodles
    mustlovepoodles Member Posts: 2,825
    edited July 2018

    I agree with Melissadallas. Stop googling at once. Your risk of breast cancer at age 20 is infinitesimally small, less than 0.01%. So, your chance that this is ANYTHING else is greater that 99.9%. Googling "breast" brings you straight to "breast cancer." Not because you actually might have breast cancer, but because of algorithms that have nothing to do with your situation. You *might* be able to find a couple of legitimately researched cases of BC in a 20 year old, but you won't find many, because it is so very rare in that age group. And believe me, any 20 year old diagnosed with BC is going to be thoroughly documented in a medical journal because of the rarity of it.

    You're doing the right thing getting this checked. We all need to be aware of changes in our body. But i don't think there is any reason to jump to the conclusion that this must be cancer, just because the internet said so.

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  • ari0505
    ari0505 Member Posts: 8
    edited July 2018

    Thank you all so much for your responses. I just felt as though I had no one to talk to about this for the past month, hence why I felt the need to come here for support, and I definitely feel more reassured now. I really needed that. The wait is still stressing me out tbh but i feel so much better when i'm not constantly googling. I'll post an update once I get my test results

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  • mustlovepoodles
    mustlovepoodles Member Posts: 2,825
    edited July 2018

    Yes, the waiting gets to us all. Try to keep your hands busy. Believe it or not, busy hands keep the mind from perseverating on our worries. Pick things that you have to actively concentrate on, like painting, dancing, crafts, biking, gardening, or even deep cleaning your house. You don't want anything that puts you on auto-pilot, like reading or watching TV. And definitely NO GOOGLING. Dr Google is not your friend. He will lead into some dark places and you don't need that.

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  • ari0505
    ari0505 Member Posts: 8
    edited July 2018

    mustlovepoodles--

    Thank you for that! I'll try my best to keep busy

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  • ari0505
    ari0505 Member Posts: 8
    edited August 2018

    Update: Just got my results in today and it turned out to be benign after all! Thank you all so much for your advice and support, it really made all of this madness so much easier

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